Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derails; 150 feared killed

Soroor Ahmed and Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna

Nearly 150 people were feared killed in one of the worst railway accidents in Bihar when 15 bogies of the 2301 Up Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed on Monday night on a bridge near Rafiganj station between Gaya and Dehri-on-Sone in the Mughalsarai division of Eastern Railway.

The train, which left Howrah at 1700 IST, derailed at about 2240 IST on the Grand Chord section soon after it had passed through Rafiganj station in the Naxalite-infested Aurangabad district.

The mishap occurred on a 300-foot-long bridge over the Dhave river about 30 km west of Gaya junction. The train had left Gaya as scheduled at 2210 IST after a three-minute halt. The driver of the train informed the railway control room at Mughalsarai about the accident at 2254 on his high-frequency telephone.

Reports said that two coaches fell into the river while three more were hanging precariously from the bridge.

Additional Director General of Police (Patna zone) Ashish Ranjan Sinha said the exact number of casualties could not immediately be ascertained, but confirmed that it would be large.

"The bridge was considered weak for a long time," a senior railway official told rediff.com on condition of anonymity. But police did not rule out the possibility of sabotage by some extremist outfits active in the region either.

Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, who was returning to Delhi from Bihar, was informed of the accident at Mughalsarai Junction in the night and reportedly headed back to the accident site.

Accident relief trains have left from Mughalsarai and Gaya stations. Some local people had reached the spot and started rescue work, but had to contend with rain, the darkness and strong currents in the river.

Railway sources said 125 passengers had been rescued by early morning by local people and the first rescue teams to reach the spot. Since the accident site is not accessible by road, medical teams are having trouble reaching it.

Meanwhile, Northern Railway has arranged for a special train to ferry relatives from New Delhi to Dehri-on-Sone. The train was scheduled to leave New Delhi at 0900 IST on Tuesday.

This is the second such accident to take place on a bridge in less than four months. On May 12, the Patna-Delhi Shramjeewi Express had derailed near Jaunpur, killing 12 passengers.